High court kicks loose task force on justice system

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1998 | 10:50 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A task force, created and financed by the Nevada Supreme Court to examine and eliminate racial and sex bias in the judicial system, received its divorce papers Monday.

The high court said it won't provide any more funding for the task force and it is not, at least for the time being, endorsing any of the task force's 81 recommendations.

The task force, started by the court in December 1992, is free to go its own way to promote what it believes are the solutions to discrimatory practices against women, minorities and the poor. The court authorized the task force to go forward with its plan but without the support of the justices.

The developments surprised task force chairman Kevin Kelly and its executive director Elgin Simpson. "We were blindsided on the implementation issue," Simpson said after the court hearing.

"When the court initiated the task force, it was committed for the long haul," Kelly said. "We're only half way there."

Kelly and Simpson said there were still "racial and economic injustices in the system" the task force found in a two-year study.

Simpson said many of the recommendations could be pushed, even without the backing of the Supreme Court.

Justice Cliff Young raised the major objection to continued funding. He described many of the task force's recommendations as "social engineering" that should be taken care of by the Legislature.

Only nine of the 81 recommendations, Young said, dealt with the judicial system. For instance, Nevada has the death penalty, but the task force wants to change that, the justice said.

The task force was financed by the court from money it collects from lower courts in the form of assessments for violation of the law. Young and Justice Bob Rose said diverting the money to the task force has hurt the programs of judicial education, which have been reduced.

"You have got to go to the Legislature and get your own funds," Young told task force members.

Simpson said the task force's budget this year is $177,000 and it is proposing a two-year spending program of $461,000. He said he has already talked with Assembly Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, about funding.

The task force is splitting into nine five-member committees, which will set priorities and timetables for the recommendations to be carried out, Simpson said.

Suggestions by the task force include requiring students at the UNLV law school to work 50-60 hours in public service jobs; increasing the hours of justice and municipal courts; giving greater access to the courts for the poor; enlarging the eligibility list for jury duty and eliminating any of the exemptions in the law; raising cultural diversity training for police and court officials; boosting funding for public defender offices; and providing interpreters in jails.